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Samsung announces Galaxy S5 and three new Gear smartwatches at MWC

Yesterday Samsung announced its latest range of smart devices at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, which included its new flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S5 and a range of new Galaxy Gear smartwatches.

Other than a rumoured 4K screen, which didn’t materialise, the Galaxy S5 didn’t disappoint and has some pretty impressive specs, listed below:

5.1-inch, full HD Super AMOLED screen

Qualcomm Snapdragon quad-core, 2.5GHz processor

2GB of RAM and 16/32GB of storage

16-megapixel camera on the back and 2.1-megapixel one on the front

2,800mAh battery

On top of all this the device is also water and dust resistant to IP67 specifications, which means that it can be immersed in up to 3 feet of water. Good news for those prone to dropping them down the toilet!

Like the iPhone5S, it also has a fingerprint scanner but unlike its rival, this can also be used to protect certain documents and confirm PayPal payments in addition to unlocking the phone.

As expected, Samsung also announced its follow up to the Galaxy Gear smartwatch, with not one, but three new models. The range consists of the Gear 2, Gear 2 Neo and Gear Fit, with the ‘Galaxy’ part having been dropped due to the fact that they now all run on Tizen OS rather than Android.

In terms of design the Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo aren’t vastly different to the original Galaxy Gear although they have been slimmed down and weigh just 68g and 55g respectively, compared to the Galaxy Gear’s 74g. Another major design change is the ability to change the strap on the Gear 2.

In terms of performance, both are considerably more impressive than the original and Samsung has addressed issues such as poor battery life and limited compatibility with other devices. The new Gears now have 3x longer battery life than the Galaxy Gear and are compatible with 16 Galaxy devices as opposed to the paltry one that was available at the launch of the original Gear.

The product that’s most likely to have commercial success is the Gear Fit, which as the name suggests, is a fitness monitor. The Gear Fit is a sleek looking wristband with a curved OLED screen, which tracks movement, heart rate and sleep patterns. In addition to these basic features it also has a timer, stopwatch, and displays notifications from your phone. It’s also water resistant, which is good selling point for such a device.

Samsung are yet to reveal prices for its latest devices, but all three Gear smartwatches are expected to ship in April.